One in five Europeans is living in often agonising pain, leading as many as 15 million people to consider suicide, a new study revealed today.

Across Europe, chronic pain, which is defined by the Pain in Europe study as persisting for three months or more, accounts for nearly 500 million lost working days a year, and costs the European economy €34bn (£24bn).

Unveiled in Prague as part of European Week Against Pain, the new study found that 75 million pain sufferers lived in often agonising pain for more than seven years. A fifth of sufferers endured agony for 20 years or more without getting the relief they needed.

As a result of such neglect, 21% of pain sufferers were diagnosed with depression, and more than one in six said they felt their pain was sometimes so bad they wanted to die.

More than 46,000 people were interviewed for the study, which the compilers said represented the largest and most in-depth long-term pain survey ever conducted in Europe.

The average age of patients was 50, and the most frequent cause of pain was arthritis and osteoarthritis, which affected 34% of those questioned.

The highest prevalence of chronic pain was in Norway where a third of those questioned said they were affected. The lowest was in Spain, where only 11% of respondents were sufferers. In Britain the figure was 13%, compared to 15% in France, 17% in Germany and 26% in Italy.

"Doctors and politicians need to listen to what patients are saying," said Marit Lovig of Norway's chronic pain patient's association. "We hope economic arguments will convince policymakers that patients are being failed by current provisions to deal with pain. More needs to be done to tackle pain head on."

Other key findings of the report include the fact that one in five chronic pain sufferers said they had lost a job as a result of their condition. There was also an impact on relationships, with 34% saying their sex lives were affected, while 73% said they found it more difficult to sleep at night and 26% said they could not talk to their partner about their pain.

While the majority of people appeared to be satisfied with their doctor, 43% said their doctor would rather treat their illness and not their pain. Only 23% had been referred to a pain specialist, and one in three said they had little faith in their doctor's ability to control their pain. Almost 40% said their pain was inadequately controlled.

"Chronic pain isn't just a symptom. It should be regarded as a disease in its own right and it is now time that training and resourcing for pain management services reflected this," said Professor Harald Breivik, president of the European Federation of International Association for the Study of Pain Chapters (EFIC) which organised the European Week Against Pain.

"Specialist pain services are either non-existent or stretched to breaking point with general physicians receiving minimal training on pain in their whole career."

Prof Breivik said a study of 3,000 doctors in the UK found that 15% did not recall receiving any education on pain control.

"Chronic pain is a complex disease, but it is a disease we can manage. In order to lift the barriers to effective pain management, we need commitment towards education and communication, and an acceptance that pain deserves the same consideration as any other disease that impacts 20% of the population," he said.

A number of European bodies, including EFIC, are working on initiatives to help improve awareness and education about chronic pain and the need for better pain management.